to him was the gathering of the people. Distressed and perplexed in my mind, by reason of these various considerations, I knew not what to do, and could hardly find power or inclination to prosecute my daily labour.

"It happened one day, while walking over the bridge of the city, that, my mind being more than usually affected, I could not refrain from pouring out my heart in prayer to God. I paused as I stood on the bridge, and lifting up my eyes towards heaven, I cried out, O God of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who hast declared thyself as keeping covenant mercy for thousands, look down upon me, a poor Jew! vouchsafe to teach me what I must do! Thou knowest my desire is to serve thee, if I knew the way! Thou art greatly displeased with our nation and with our people, for we have broken thy commandments. But, O Lord, direct me!'

"It was with words something like these," continued the poor man, "that I prayed; in which I wept much. At length, I walked on; and passing by a (socalled) place of worship, where I saw many assembled, I found my heart inclined to go in. Who knows, I thought within myself, but the Lord may have directed me hither! I went in, and near the door finding a seat unoccupied, I entered into it, and sat down. The minister was discoursing on the mercies of God in sending His Son to be the Saviour of the world. If this Saviour were my Saviour, thought I, how happy should I be ! I felt myself considerably affected, and frequently turned my face to the wall and wept; and many times, during the continuance of the discourse,

so much was my heart interested by what I heard, that I wept aloud, and could not refrain.

"I had disturbed some of the congregation, it appeared, by my behaviour; so that as soon as the service was finished, two or three of the men came toward me with much anger, asking me what I meant by coming there to interrupt the worship with my drunkenness ; but when they discovered the real state of the case, and I had told them the whole desires of my mind, they almost devoured me with kindness. This served very much also, under God, to convince me that their religion must be the true religion, which produced such effects.

"Not to fatigue you with my relation, it will be sufficient to observe, that from that hour my mind began to discover hope; and as the kind people into whose congregation I had thus entered undertook to instruct me in the principles of the Christian faith, I soon learnt under God.

"One little event more," he added. "After this my business of selling pens obliged me to go to another city, about twelve miles distant from the one where I dwelt; and calling at a pastry-cook's shop, who occasionally dealt with me, a circumstance occurred which became highly serviceable to me in my new path of life. There sat in the shop a venerable gentleman dressed in black, the mistress of the house stood behind the counter, and I was just within the door. A poor beggar, looking miserably ill, came in for a tart. Ah! John,' cried the old gentleman. What, have you left the infirmary? Is your disorder declared to be incurable?' 'Yes, sir,' replied the poor man; 'they

'Well, John,' an

say they can do nothing for me.' swered the old gentleman, 'there is one Physician more which I would have you try; and He never fails to cure, and He doeth it also without money and without price.' The poor man's countenance brightened at this, and he said, 'Who is He?' 'It is the Lord Jesus Christ,' said the gentleman. Pray go to Him, John, and if he be pleased to heal your body, it will be a blessed recovery for you indeed; and if not, He can and will heal your soul!' The poor man did not relish the advice; for he went away looking angrily. As for me, I cried out (for I could not refrain), May the Lord bless you, sir, for what you have said in your recommendations of my Master and Saviour! He is, indeed, all you have described Him; for He hath cured both my body and soul.' Astonished at what I said, the gentleman expressed his surprise in observing, 'I thought you were a Jew!' 'I was, sir,' I answered, 'once; but by grace I am now a Christian.' He caught me by the hand, and entreated me to go with him to his house, when I related to him, as I have to you, the means, under God, of my conversion; and when I had finished my story, at his request, we dropped on our knees in prayer; and oh, sirs, the fervour and earnestness with which he prayed, and the thanksgivings which he expressed for the Lord's mercy to my soul, never shall I forget! The recollection even at this distance continues to warm my heart. . .”

The poor man took his leave, after mutual wishes and prayers for our spiritual welfare; and the night being now advanced, after reading the Scriptures and prayer, we departed each to his chamber.

EXTRACT FROM CORRESPONDENCE.

(Revised by the Writer.)

I THANK God with you for His mercy to your son and daughter, and trust you may have the comfort of seeing them grow in the knowledge and likeness of the Lord, walking in the truth, and being ensamples to their brethren, as well as witnesses to sinners.

What a marvellous thing Christianity is! I would that we realized far more than we do its character and power. In olden times God was hidden behind the veil, and man could not get near Him. It would have been death to him, "save the high priest once every year, not without blood." "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." (Heb. ix. 8.) The light that in those days shone "at sundry times and in divers manners

unto the fathers by the prophets" (Heb. i. 1), served only to make the darkness and distance from God to be the more painfully felt by the godly. The prophets themselves, as the Holy Ghost tells us in 1 Peter i. 10-12, searched diligently into their own testimonies, and the most enlightened of them all was constrained to cry, "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." (Isa. xlv. 15.) Enough had been revealed to enable the prophet to call God a Saviour, and at the same time to convey the sense of His hiding Himself. When the blessed Lord came upon the scene, there was no longer a hiding. It was God come out from behind the veil, in the person of His

Son, that man might know Him, and be blessed with His presence. The true light was now amongst men. This introduced a great change; but it only made manifest man's moral ruin to the full. The ways of God's goodness before the law, and under the law, had proved the incompetency of man to meet the righteous claims of God; so the presence on earth amongst us of Him in whom all goodness dwelt, and displayed itself in every act, and in every word, only found that in his best estate, as descended from Adam, man was incapable of appreciating even the goodness of God Himself; for he hated and crucified the Lord of life and glory. The cross of Christ was thus the undeniable expression of our natural enmity against God, and at the same time the highest possible expression of the love of God to us; and in virtue of the atoning work accomplished thereby, the God of all grace—having raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead, and given Him, as man, a place in the heavens-is calling sinners into eternal life and blessing in association with Him there through faith. The believer is blessed with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ; for we are accepted in Him, and His hopes and interests are ours. (Read Ephes. i. and ii.) Our citizenship is no longer in this world, "but in heaven; from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His gloriour body," &c. (Phil. iii. 21); when we shall be taken to be with Him also, where He now is, for ever (read 1 Thess. iv. 13-15); where this coming of the Lord to receive us to Himself, according to His promise in John xiv., is presented to us in detail as our immediate hope.